Politics

Zouhair Ghazzal

About

Zouhair Ghazzal (Doctorat, Université Paris-Sorbonne, 1986; B.S., American University of Beirut, 1978 and 1979) is an Associate Professor of History at Loyola University Chicago where he teaches courses on Middle Eastern history, law, and contemporary global issues.

Ghazzal’s scholarship focuses on the history of law in Islamic and Arab societies. He has published books in both English and French, including The Grammars of Adjudication: The economics of judicial decision making in fin-de-siècle Ottoman Beirut and Damascus(Institut Français du Proche-Orient, 2007) and L’économie politique de Damas Durant le XIXe siècle: Structures traditionelles et capitalisme (Institut Français d’Études Arabes des Damas, 1993). He has co-authored with Baudouin Dupret Le Syrie au present: reflects d’une societe(Actes Sud, 2007). Ghazzal’s forthcoming book The Crime of Writing. Shared Meanings and Criminal Narratives in Baathist Syria is based on 34 Syrian criminal cases from 1980 to the present and examines the cases based on their inherent narratives furnished by witnesses, defendants, lawyers, judges, and court experts.

Ghazzal has been awarded visiting professorships at Aleppo University in Syria (2003-05), Bogazici University in Turkey (2008 and 2010), the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociale in Paris (2009) and membership at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (2008-09). He is the recipient of a wide array of external fellowships, including those from the Rockefeller Foundation (1991-92) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (1996-97). Ghazzal received Fulbright Lectureship in Syria in 2003-05.

Research Interests

Modern history of Islam and Middle Eastern societies, Ottoman history, urban studies, Islamic law

Courses Taught

HIST 299: Contemporary Global Issues: Historical Perspective

HIST 300: Iran and Egypt

HIST 313: Modern Middle East

HIST 322: Arab-Israeli Conflict

HIST 395: History and the Social Sciences

HIST 396: History of American Law

Selected Publications

The Grammars of Adjudication: The economics of judicial decision making in fin-de-siècle Ottoman Beirut and Damascus (Institut Français du Proche-Orient, 2007).